Since Art Blakey had made the first recordings with his Jazz Messengers in 1955, the ensemble had mostly performed in the classic hardbop quintet formation with trumpet, tenor sax, piano, bass and drums. That changed in 1961, when Blakey brought in trombonist Curtis Fuller permanently as a sixth man and also replaced Lee Morgan and Bobby Timmons with Freddie Hubbard and Cedar Walton. "Mosaic" was the first album with this powerful new formation, which introduced itself on this occasion with five terrific hard bop originals by Hubbard, Walton, Fuller and Wayne Shorter. Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition: stereo, all analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.